David Annesley (b.1936) Michael Bolus (1934–2013) Anthony Caro (1924–2013)

David Annesley studied at St Martin’s Born in South Africa in 1934, Michael Bolus Anthony Caro played a central role in the School of Art in London (1958–62), settled in London in 1957, studying at St development of British sculpture in the initially enrolling on the painting course Martin’s School of Art. He initially worked second half of the twentieth century. Caro before switching to sculpture. Annesley’s in stone, but quickly turned to sheet worked as an assistant to Henry Moore lyrical sculptures of the 1960s are mostly steel and aluminium, preferring a more in the 1950s, but abandoned his early constructed from welded steel and coated constructed approach to sculpture. This shift figurative work after encountering the in brightly-coloured paint. They explore in materials enabled Bolus to explore ideas sculpture of the American artist, David multiple iterations of basic shapes and of structural and compositional balance, Smith. A highly influential tutor at St forms: boxes, triangles, rippling curves and as well as repeated form and colour. 4th Martin’s School of Art, Caro was committed rings. The large circular form in Blue Ring Sculpture (1965) sits directly on the gallery to sculpture as a social activity. (1966) is based on the breadth of the artist’s floor, occupying our space. Although the He abolished individual studio spaces and outstretched arms, a pose reminiscent of form of 4th Sculpture is three dimensional, insisted on discussing sculpture with his Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (c.1490). the artist’s concern with flatness rather than students in group ‘crits’. Slow Movement The steel structure of the sculpture is volume is evident. Cut and folded sheets (1965) is one of many abstract works that hidden beneath a thick layer of blue paint, of steel become planes of colour, and Caro produced in the 1960s, constructed which disguises the making process and the shape of the sculpture appears to shift by welding and bolting pieces of industrial

An Arts Council Collection Exhibition Touring creates an overall sense of lightness. and change depending upon the angle scrap steel together. There is a tension from which it is seen. between the three elements of the work, which together forge a sense of passage, articulating the surrounding space.

John Dee (b.1938) Robyn Denny (1930–2014) Antony Donaldson (b.1939)

John Dee studied sculpture at Reading Robyn Denny studied at St Martin’s School After graduating from the Slade School University (1956–60) and at the Slade School of Art and then at the Royal College of Art of Fine Art in London in 1962, Antony of Art in London (1960–62). During the in London. In 1960, Denny was involved Donaldson developed a distinctive body of 1960s, Dee developed a distinctive body in the Situation exhibition of abstract work, using flat planes of dazzling colour of sculpture combining sensual, undulating painting at the RBA Galleries, and came depicting pin-ups, strippers or fast cars. forms with strong colour and strict to be associated with the ‘Situation Group’ Despite his links to Pop art, a clear interest symmetry. In 2016, Dee reflected: ‘Several of along with fellow artists including Gillian in abstraction, particularly American my works in the 1960s were given titles with Ayres, Bernard Cohen and Gwyther Irwin. hard-edge painting and the Dutch De a non-religious biblical association. That Throughout the 1960s Denny exhibited Stijl, underpins Donaldson’s work. In 1966 of Exodus, for example, drew attention to widely across Europe and in New York, Donaldson moved to Los Angeles and the shift in structural emphasis from vertical and he represented Britain at the Venice during the following two years he made to horizontal and, in a second version, Biennale in 1966. The influence of American a series of paintings influenced by the the migration of colour from a wall- post-painterly abstraction is evident in architecture of the 1930s cinemas then based painting to floor-based sculpture. Over Reach (1965–66), where Denny has still existing in Hollywood. Hollywood Pix Revelation concluded both this series employed hard-edged blocks of colour (1967) references the landmark cinema on and another running parallel concerning upon a large canvas. The strong vertical and Sunset Boulevard. The work features two (for want of a better word) the oracular. symmetrical forms emphasise the scale related forms which appear to hover against These mostly bilaterally symmetrical of the painting, giving space and form to the backdrop of an infinite clear sky. The works played with the possibility of pure the flat planes of muted colour. use of an airbrush and spray gun enabled geometry metamorphosing into an impure Donaldson to create a new sense of deep form capable of human interaction, even space and to make a surface seemingly communication. … Revelation is fully untouched by human hand. opened, a book of colour waiting to be read.’ KALEIDOSCOPE Colour Sequence and Art British in 1960s

Bernard Farmer (1919–2002) Barry Flanagan (1941–2009) Anthony Hill (b.1930)

Bernard Farmer studied at Chelsea Barry Flanagan studied architecture at Alongside Mary Martin, Kenneth Martin Polytechnic School of Art and exhibited Birmingham College of Art before attending and Victor Pasmore, Anthony Hill was one his work with the London Group of artists. the sculpture course at St Martin’s School of the leading figures of the mid-twentieth He received attention during the 1960s of Art in London. heap 4 (1967) is a fine century Constructionist Group. In 1956 for abstract compositions featuring zones example of the radical sculpture Flanagan Hill abandoned painting and began to of brightly-coloured paint set against made during the 1960s, described by the construct reliefs using new mass-produced a neutral white background. Farmer art historian Charles Harrison as materials such as acrylic and aluminium. often used acrylic paint, which enabled ‘disturbingly organic’. Flanagan often His compositions make reference to him to build up areas of colour to the worked with soft materials such as sand, mathematical formulae. Relief Construction picture surface with speed and freedom. muslin, rope and hessian – malleable G2 (1966) is one of many reliefs produced As the artist once explained, the simplicity materials which are free to form by Hill during the 1960s to feature of the composition is crucial: ‘the more themselves. In heap 4, one of a series of aluminium sections that jut out from simple I can make an image the better ‘heap’ works, sand-filled hessian bags the base plane at 120°. As the units are I like it... the less can always expand the are informally piled on top of one another, identical, the only way of telling one from mind, whereas more either constricts or with gravity dictating the final form. another is by variations in the light reflected becomes too much.’ from their sloping surfaces, revealing their precise, sequential placement. A_C_Collection @ artscouncilcollection Gallery Guide #Kaleidoscope artscouncilcollection.org.uk John Hoyland (1934–2011) Tess Jaray (b. 1937) Phillip King (b. 1934) Kim Lim (1936–97) Mary Martin (1907–69) Jeremy Moon (1934–73)

John Hoyland was a leading British abstract Following her studies at St Martin’s School After studying Modern Languages at Born in Singapore, Kim Lim moved to Mary Martin studied at Goldsmith’s College Before becoming an artist Jeremy Moon painter and printmaker who came to of Art (1954–57), and the Slade School the University of Cambridge, Philip King London in 1954, where she studied at St of Art (1925–29) and at the Royal College of studied law at Cambridge University. prominence in the 1960s. In 1964, Hoyland of Fine Art (1957–60), Tess Jaray travelled attended the sculpture course at St Martin’s Martin’s School of Art (1954–56) and then Art (1929–32) in London. Along with Victor From 1960, he took up painting as well visited New York and made contact with to Italy and France, where she drew School of Art (1957–58). A trip to Greece at the Slade School of Art (1956–60). She Pasmore and her husband Kenneth Martin, as ballet, choreography and poetry influential artists and critics including influence from Renaissance architecture. in 1960 exposed the young artist to ancient often spoke of how the similarities and she was one of the early pioneers of the alongside his day job in advertising. Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Jaray’s paintings of the 1960s are often Greek architecture, and the Documenta differences between Eastern and Western post-war British Constructionist Group. A visit to the second Situation exhibition Kenneth Noland and Clement Greenberg. suggestive of an interior, with simple lines, exhibition in Germany that same year art influenced her approach to sculpture Throughout her career, Martin applied at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1961 inspired 15.5.64 (1964) is characteristic of Hoyland’s repeated forms and flat zones of colour introduced King to contemporary American and she was particularly inspired by formal mathematical principles such as the Golden Moon to enroll at the Central School of Art work of this period: strong colours buzz employed to delineate space, structure and abstraction. Upon his return to London, simplicity. Her work of the 1960s expresses Section and the Fibonacci Sequence to in London. Cape Red (1965) exemplifies next to one another, while the repeated scale. As the artist explains: ‘St Stephen’s King destroyed his work to date, stating a particular emphasis on rhythm and her constructions and reliefs, emphasising Moon’s mature style. His hard-edged shapes create and yet confuse a sense of Way (1964) was titled after the Cathedral in that he had ‘established new ideas about repetition, with forms becoming flatter geometric form and incorporating new approach to abstract painting involved depth. Hoyland’s titles, which refer only Vienna, which I saw for the first time in 1957, fundamental forms and sculpture being and never any bigger than the artist could materials such as acrylic and aluminium. the application of flat areas of vibrant to a date, defy interpretation and add when I was 19 and just before I went to the off the pedestal and extending on the handle herself. These parameters can be Compound Rhythms with Blue (1966) colour often to a shaped canvas. Moon’s another layer of abstraction. Despite being Slade. The colour makes some reference to ground and stretching out.’ Point X (1965) identified in Candy (1965), a work which features half-cut cubes, coloured planes passion for dance inspired his painting, widely recognised as an abstract artist, the tiling of the roof, and the faintly Gothic demonstrates King’s appetite for working explores balance, colour, form and the and reflective surfaces, which combine and a choreographic element is clear in Hoyland disliked the term, explaining: feel to the painting was in part, though in with non-traditional sculptural materials notion of ‘less elaboration and more to create a complex composition that much of his work through the movement, ‘It smacks always of geometry to me, of part only, my memory of the power of the and his interest in exploring the possibilities strength’, a concept Lim associated with shimmers with an endless sequence of balance and harmony of the repeated forms rational thought. There’s no geometry, Gothic interior of the cathedral, particularly in basic shapes, repetition and symmetry. art from earlier civilisations. reflection and repetition. arranged on flat fields of colour. there’s no rectangles in nature, no real arresting in those days when it was barely The use of fibreglass inPoint X gave King straight lines. There’s only the circle, the lit. It has remained in my mind ever since the ability to arrange forms in radical new one really powerful form in nature I keep seeing it that first time.’ ways. The repeating, mirrored forms of getting drawn back to.’ triangles, circles and squares are split into two separate groups and appear to hover weightlessly in space.

Eduardo Paolozzi (1924–2005) Bridget Riley (b.1931) Bernard Schottlander (1924–99) Tim Scott (b.1937) Peter Sedgley (b.1930) Richard Smith (1931–2016)

One of the pioneers of Pop art, Eduardo Bridget Riley studied at Goldsmiths College Bernard Schottlander came to the UK as a Tim Scott studied architecture at St Martin’s Initially educated in Architecture and Following his studies at the Royal College Paolozzi produced collages, prints, graphic (1949–52) and at the Royal College of Art Jewish refugee, having fled Nazi Germany in School of Art in London (1954–59) whilst Building, Peter Sedgley worked as an of Art in London (1954–57), Richard Smith art, film, pottery and sculpture. Paolozzi’s (1952–55) in London. Riley represented 1939. He settled in Leeds, where he worked also attending the sculpture course architect’s assistant before turning to art, moved to New York in 1959 to teach. work changed radically during the Great Britain at the Venice Biennale as a welder and took an evening course in on a part-time basis. He went on to teach influenced by Goethe’s theories and the Smith’s work at this time drew influence early 1960s when he began welding in 1968 where she was the first British artist sculpture at Leeds College of Art. Following at St Martin’s alongside Michael Bolus, imagery of the Surrealists. He was one from the scale, colour and gesture prefabricated cast aluminium pieces to to be awarded the International Prize for further study, Schottlander devoted himself Phillip King and William Tucker, becoming of the few British artists included in the of American abstract painting, while form sculptures. These works have an Painting. Movement in Squares (1961) entirely to sculpture in 1963. As well as the Head of the Sculpture Department major exhibition, The Responsive Eye at the embracing the visual languages of popular architectural character that recall the is an important early example of Riley’s exhibiting his work in galleries he won a in 1980. Quinquereme (1966) is one of three Museum of Modern Art in New York, and, culture and consumerism. Smith’s work wilder edges of science fiction.Dollus II mature and distinctive style, and the artist series of commissions for large public sculptures by Scott inspired by and named with Bridget Riley, was considered a leading of the 1960s explored the space between (1968) is one of several chrome-plated herself sees the work as marking the outdoor works which combined his skills in after a Roman galley ship. An ancient Roman figure in British Op art. Internationally abstraction and representation, and steel sculptures produced later in the beginning of her breakthrough into pure industrial design and sculpture. Auto Ditto quinquereme had five levels of oarsmen, renowned, Sedgley has produced a vast and between art and everyday life. His paintings decade. Paolozzi was attracted to chrome abstraction. Working only in black and (1966) is a perfect example of Schottlander’s in contrast to the trireme which had three, diverse body of work over half a century are cinematic in scale and reference the because of its qualities of light and illusion. white, Riley used simple geometric shapes abstract and geometric style which he had and the quadreme with four. Quinquereme and is recognised as a pioneer in the bold designs of billboards, packaging This material offered the artist a new way – squares in this instance – to create an firmly established by the mid-1960s. The was one of the first works in which Scott development and application of kinetic and and advertisements. An interest in three- of thinking about three-dimensional intense and unsettling optical experience. overall composition of the work makes began experimenting with vertically luminescent technology within the visual dimensionality is also visible, as seen in form, and the resulting works are often The height of the squares remains constant direct reference to Asante gold weights positioned sheets of acrylic, in contrast arts. He aligns his work to the creation the three successive forms in Trio (1963). ambiguous. The balanced symmetry of across the entire canvas, but minute from West Africa, which the artist collected. to his earlier acrylic works where the sheet of an ambient spatial theatre in which As the artist noted, colour is important: Dollus II, for example, is disrupted by the differences in the width creates the sense is bent or formed to create a sense of the viewer becomes both spectator and ‘the actual image in my paintings tends to highly-polished chrome surface, which of a structural contraction towards the volume. Despite its structural complexity, participant while further exploring colour in dissolve into this high colour thing’. reflects and distorts its surroundings. centre of the painting. Quinquereme is composed of a limited relation to the metaphysics of vision. selection of simple geometric shapes which are repeated throughout the structure.

Jeffrey Steele (b.1931) Joe Tilson (b.1928) William Tucker (b.1935) William Turnbull (1922–2012)

Jeffrey Steele experimented with Joe Tilson worked as a carpenter and William Tucker studied History at the William Turnbull worked as an illustrator representational modes of painting cabinet maker before serving in the RAF University of Oxford before enrolling on the before studying painting and then sculpture during the 1950s whilst working as a radio until 1949. After military service he studied sculpture course at St Martin’s School of at the Slade School of Art (1946–48). In technician. A scholarship from the French at St Martin’s School of Art and then at the Art in 1959. Around 1963 Tucker began using 1948, Turnbull moved to Paris and drew government enabled Steele to visit Paris Royal College of Art in London. One of the repeated units within a single sculpture, and inspiration from artists including Constantin in 1959, where he encountered the work of leading figures of British Pop art, Tilson he also established that each work must Brancusi and Alberto Giacometti. Turnbull Josef Albers and Victor Vasarely. From this received critical acclaim for paintings sit directly on the floor.Thebes consists of married the artist Kim Lim in 1960 and they point onwards Steele committed himself and collage constructions which combine three identical sections, each comprising travelled extensively together, seeking to a lifelong exploration of abstraction. He themes of consumer culture and mass a right-angled triangle with an undulating out diverse cultures and approaches to reduced his work to the barest essentials: media with an enduring interest in ancient hypotenuse. Different colours are used to making art. Soon after, Turnbull began a blank white canvas articulated with black civilisations and myths. In Zikkurat 7 (1967), separate each unit. The colour acts as a experimenting with welded steel sculpture. oil paint. From a simple binary relationship for example, the joyful rainbow-like colours skin to the work, disguising the materials Double Red (1966) is one of a series of between these two elements, Steele appear to reflect the world of popular from which it is made and creating a sense large totem-like painted steel structures developed a new approach, starting with culture, however the overall composition of weightlessness. In contrast, the tilting that exploits the tensile strength of steel an exploration of repeated shapes including makes direct reference to the stepped red and yellow units suggest the effect of to create sculpture that is on the cusp of ovals, ellipses, triangles, squares and other pyramidal structures built by ancient gravity, anchoring the work to the ground. becoming two-dimensional. Both of the polygonal forms. Ilmatar (1966–67) is one civilisations in Mesopotamia. upright elements are differently angled and of the works produced by Steele at this articulated yet each appears to echo the pivotal moment in his career. movement of the other.

Texts written by Rachel Graves and Holly Kemish. Not all works will be shown at all venues.